NRG plan to hook up pumping station approved by zoners

MIDDLETOWN -- A pumping station to supply water between the city and Cromwell as a safety measure for a Meriden power plant was approved Wednesday by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

AMY L. ZITKA

Published
12:00 am EDT, Thursday, August 29, 2002

Commissioners unanimously passed a special exception permit to build an emergency water supply pumping station near the intersection of Newfield Street and Tuttle Road.

The city's Water and Sewer Department had requested a potable water supply connection with the Cromwell Fire District, professional engineer Nicole Burnham said. The Cromwell Fire District had requested NRG Energy to go forward with the connection into the pump station, she said.

"The water supply is to connect the two towns to provide water to the towns either way," said Ed Keith, NRG Energy regional manager for water waste programs. NRG is honoring agreements Cromwell Fire District had with a previous company, he said. "It's to ensure water, just in case. Cromwell Fire wanted to have the interconnection installed."

Keith said a water connection is also to be done between Cromwell and Berlin.

NRG is expected to install water pipes through Cromwell to bring water from the Connecticut River into Meriden to cool the turbines for the power plant that is under construction. There have been questions about the company's financial stability, which was raised by a commissioner.

Keith told the commissioners the Meriden project is going ahead.

"We've taken the project and slowed it down," he said. "We're too far along to stop."

The proposed pumping station has gone through a number of reviews on the state and local levels, Burnham said. The commission had previously approved the project when it was before it as a municipal improvement review, she said.

There is an existing sanitary sewer station at the site, and the potable water station will go directly north of it, Burnham said. Trees will also be planted along the north and west borders of the property for screening, she added.

In other business, the commission postponed a vote on a proposed 22-lot cluster subdivision known as Kelsey Estates, which is on the west side of Arbutus Street and adjacent to Cranberry Lane Estates. Commission Chairwoman Barbara Plum said of the six commissioners present Wednesday two were unable to vote because they had not been present at the public hearing. "We don't have enough commissioners to vote on it," she said.